Cuttack, Nov. 9: The Odisha Civil Services (OCS) examination is set to be held again after around seven years.
The Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) has notified that the preliminary OCS examination – 2011 will be conducted on January 19, 2014. “The exam will be conducted at various centres in five zones — Balasore, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack,” OPSC special secretary Debendra Mohapatra said in the notification.
“The detailed examination programme and admission certificate of eligible candidates and instruction to candidates will be uploaded on the OPSC website, www.opsc. gov.in, prior to the date of the exam. The candidates are required to download them from the website. No separate correspondence will be made on this score,” Mohapatra said.
The exam will be held to fill up 364 Class II posts for the Odisha Administrative Service (30), Odisha Police Service (15), Odisha Co-operative Service (10), Odisha Revenue Service (100) and Odisha Taxation and Accounts Service (209).
Sources said the last OCS test had been held in 2006. The preliminary and main tests were held in 2007 and 2008, respectively. On completion of the selection process, the OPSC had recommended 378 candidates in June 2010. Subsequently, the state government issued a notification in August 2010 on their appointment.
“The notification for the preliminary OCS exam is a breather for us. We have been waiting for it for over one-and-a-half years,” said a state civil service aspirant. The OPSC came up with an advertisement on November 17, 2011, inviting applications for the Odisha Civil Service Examination - 2011 to fill up 364 Class II posts. The advertisement brought out after five years to fill up vacancies from 2007 to 2010. Around 76,000 candidates applied by December 31 2011.
But, the OPSC could not proceed with the preliminary OCS exam in 2011 as the advertisement got caught in a legal tangle over the applicants’ upper age limit. Later, the decks were cleared with Orissa High Court striking down, on August 30, portions of an order issued by the State Administrative Tribunal that prevented the state government from proceeding with the exam. The court, however, directed the OPSC to issue a corrigendum advertisement on the age limit criteria. The advertisement, issued on November 17, 2011, allowed candidates less than 32 years of age as on January 1, 2011.
The court directed the OPSC to allow candidates, who were under 32 in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and had been deprived of appearing the OCS exam as it had not been held during these four years.
